The One Who Got Away
by Lindsey Grissom
Summary: Just a little look into the relationship between Karen and Beverly Leslie, because I don’t think it’s ever been done! OneShot


**Disclaimer: **Not mine, although if NBC wishes to donate them now that they're finished with them, I wouldn't say no!

**Summary: **Just a little look into the relationship between Karen and Beverly Leslie, because I don't think it's ever been done! Plus I needed to puff up the 'other characters' section on my site!

**A/N: **This is what you get when Living plays all the Beverley Leslie episodes back to back!

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The One Who Got Away**

'Karen Walker will always be the one who got away.'

I know the Homosexual, Will I think his name is, I've never really been good with names, I don't remember people; they remember me. It's what having money is all about. Anyway, I know that Will was shocked to hear me say that, I was a little shocked too. I mean I've never shown any positive feelings towards Karen, and why should I have, she's never been anything but spiteful to me. She takes any opportunity to comment on my size, I am not small! I may be selectively tall, but that's it. Is it my fault the rest of the world is too tall? I've always been enough for my wife, although, with her size, she makes up for any deficiency I may appear to have. I can forgive Karen her slights, because I know that I am no better, no worse mind you, but really no better, well not by a lot anyway.

I've always been good at finding a person's insecurities and then ripping in to them. Take the time I tried to take away her maid, Rosar-something. I knew how much she meant to Karen, how could I not, they're inseparable, no matter how much they may fight and threaten each other. I would hate to see either of them without the other, they're like some mixed up family, bad together, but apart they're a whole lot worse. I knew all this, and more, because I knew that the only thing Karen truly valued in her life, was that she'd hired herself the best maid any women could have, and yet I still came in and tried to steal her away. She tried to make out that it was all the principle of the act that grieved her, but I could see that it wasn't, she was too desperate for it not to have been personal.

'Playmates', she used to call us; I think I even heard her call me her Dearest Friend once. I wish I could get that back now, I didn't realise at the time, just how good I had it. Of course, I'd never admit that to anyone, and she's lost me just as much, I mean, who wouldn't want me as a friend? But our, shall we say _friendship_ was never the same after that. The insults got stronger, and gradually we both forgot what we had been, becoming what we are today.

We're not so different Karen and I, that's why we've stuck together all this time. Why we each invite the other to any gathering we host, we don't have to, but it wouldn't seem right if one of us wasn't there. We both rely on our spouses to meet our every needs, well, not so much our partners, more their money. And we're the stereotypical socialites. But we have one fundamental difference. Whilst I wouldn't trade my life for anything, I know Karen would in a heartbeat. She's so good at playing the drunken money grabbing wrench, and she's been doing it so long that we both know she could never be anything else. Not now, not after everything she's done. But I remember what she used to be, before she married and became Mrs Walker. Stan would bring her to a few of the functions when they were first engaged, I wouldn't talk to her of course; she was so far beneath me at that time, a working class girl trying to make it big in the up state world. The others didn't know her background; even then she knew what not to say, but I did, I'm not nosey you understand, but someone has to know everything about everybody and then share it around. Yes, I knew about her Mother, about the scams she'd been dragged through, I even knew about that video she made, and if I have a copy myself, it's only because I thought it would make good blackmail.

No, Karen was far below my notice, at least for the first three dances. By the fourth, she'd won over everyone, with her snarky remarks on the poor, and her impeccable taste in fashion, she had them eating out of her hand. So I talked to her when Stan left to order another roast pig. I'd like to say that she drew me in with her quick wit, and her dazzling smile, but that'd be a lie. I had never hidden my distaste for the _newbie_, as I've said, she was below my notice, and I believed myself above hers. I was wrong. She'd not only noticed how I acted, but also understood why. She didn't smile, she didn't even acknowledge me at first, and when she did, it was with the most real expression I have ever seen on her face, as she asked me why I had suddenly lowered my standards down to her level. There's not much you can say to that now is there. So naturally I laughed haughtily and pointed out that she was next to the olives and that's all I really wanted from her. It took a long time after that for us to reach any kind of acquaintance, but finally we did, and I'm rich enough to admit that I like that we did.

But in the end, neither of us could really stay close for any length of time; we _are_ from two different worlds, and for all our similarities it always comes down to that. Never the less, I still stand by what I said, unless my wife finds out, and then it wasn't me, it was my business associate Benji; she's the one that got away. Not from me, as I'm sure the homosexual thought I meant, no, because the real Karen, the one beneath the name and drugs and alcohol, well she got away a long time ago, right around the time she tried to become me.

: fini :

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Let me know what you thought, I think Beverley is a little OoC, but then we don't really know much about him anyway. Oh and the quote is from a scene between Will and Beverley in 'I do. Oh, no you di-in't'. 

-Linds.x


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